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One on One - Tyler Wood
28 Plays8 months ago
Before the NZ Open Cal had the privilege of interviewing one of New Zealand’s brightest up-and-coming golfers Tyler Wood. They discuss Tyler’s journey, from the early at Ngahinapouri GC right up to playing Tour golf. Tyler is a great character with some fantastic stories and certainly a player worth following as he makes his way in the play-for-pay ranks. Enjoy!
*Late upload due to technical issues.
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Transcript
Podcast Returns with a New Experience
00:00:16
Speaker
It's a pleasure to be back. We've had a couple of tough weeks with uploads and we're back in the house and it's going to be a little bit different this week. No AC, no Monty.
Interview with Tyler Wood: Golf Journey
00:00:31
Speaker
The week before the New Zealand Open, I had the privilege of sitting down with young Waikato pro Tyler Wood, who's got his tour card on the PGA Tour of Australasia and he'd been playing. We started his professional career through Europe last winter. We talk about all things golf, the tough
00:00:52
Speaker
highs and lows that are pro golf that he's already experienced, how to deal with pressure. And we also touch on his life growing up at the Nahana Porti Golf Club, his amateur career. And he tells some funny stories along the way of what a young Tyler Wood was like growing up. This is one I thoroughly enjoyed doing. He was
00:01:13
Speaker
an absolute joy to interview. He had a lot of brilliant stuff and man, I know this isn't going to be the last you guys hear at Tyler Wood. So I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I did and yeah, enough dribble from me and enjoy the podcast. So Tyler Wood, welcome to the Off The Tips podcast, mate.
Tyler's First Year as a Pro: Lessons and Plans
00:01:35
Speaker
How have you been and how have you enjoyed your life so far?
00:01:39
Speaker
Yeah, thanks for having me on. No, it's been good, eh? It sort of has been a rough first year, but I mean, that was what I signed up for at the start. So yeah, I kind of knew what I was in for, but it has definitely been tough. Yeah, we'll delve into the pro stuff a bit later on in the podcast, but mate, just fill the listeners in where the game's at, you know, as we're recording this, yeah, heading into a
00:02:07
Speaker
you know, a New Zealand Open, which is where you turned pro last year. Where is the game at? Pretty much the last year has been a pretty big struggle, but sort of in the new year, it's starting to come together a little bit. And yeah, I've sort of made some really good progress in these first few tournaments this year. So I am looking forward to New Zealand Open. There's obviously always areas that you're going to want to be able to
00:02:33
Speaker
tidy up and whatnot but yeah I am looking forward to hitting the ball really well so hopefully the putter can sort of come together for a week and see if we can go low. Three pretty decent rounds last week at the TPS, well not TPS anymore Webex player series at Hunter Valley. It was just
00:02:51
Speaker
What was your final round that slipped you up a bit, wasn't it? Were you kind of chasing a really decent finish? Well, yeah. I've put myself in a bit of a position with this season where at the start of the season, I missed so many cuts on the number. I was playing okay, but just seemed to always fall on the wrong side of the cut line.
00:03:14
Speaker
Now I'm almost just chasing a little bit, trying to catch up with my tail. And I kind of need a few good finishes to keep my card for next year. So it was playing on my mind a little bit. But yeah, it's just I still hit the ball really well on Sunday. Just it was probably the worst putting around I've had in a couple of years, unfortunately. But I haven't seen everyone, I guess. I want our listeners to kind of know a bit more about you and and you know, an up and coming really talented pro golfer.
From Local Course to Potential Pro: Tyler's Golf Beginnings
00:03:43
Speaker
Let's just go right back to the start. Where did the love for golf come from? Where did it start for you? Well, I got into golf really because well, we lived right next to the nine hole course just outside of Hamilton called Nahunapuri. And I mean, as bad as this is going to sound, but my parents just ultimately said to me when I was like 10, you can either go to after school care or just go play golf until we finish work. So I pretty much just did that every day. And then
00:04:13
Speaker
Yeah, I guess once you get that first taste of like your handicap dropping a little bit, I just every day was out there for hours and hours. What age was that? I think I was, I think I was nine when I got my first set of clubs and I remember going out for three holes and I shot 54 and I don't think I touch clubs again for a year.
00:04:34
Speaker
And then, yeah, picked it up about a year later when I was 10 and sort of a little bit more coordinated. I could actually not trip over my own feet and started playing a lot. And then, yeah, just started improving pretty quickly. That's a lot. There's a lot of shots through three holes.
00:04:53
Speaker
What, did a few go right on two there? No, I played seven, eight, nine and I can remember my brother, he followed me around on a bike and he'd played a bit growing up and my brother was sort of one of those guys, he wouldn't like beat me up as an older brother but he would be like that kind of brother where he'd just tinker you into your nearly pissy pants or something so he followed me around on a bike just abusing me for three holes about how shit I was.
00:05:19
Speaker
That was part of the reason why I didn't want to play again, but yeah, I'm glad I did pick it back up. At what point did you, you know, you start realizing that you were really good, well, decent enough to, you know, maybe pursue it a bit further with like rep honors and playing at school, et cetera.
00:05:39
Speaker
Well, yeah, I mean, I don't think I actually don't think I owned a pair of golf shoes until I got to scratch. So I used to always play in like Nike Roshis and stuff. And yeah, I can just remember, I think it was the school holidays between.
00:05:54
Speaker
It was either year 9 and 10, or year 10 and 11. I dropped from like a 4 or a 5, so like a plus 1, because I had played so much. And then I was like, oh, I can actually play a bit here. And then I think it was like an inter-school comp in year 11 or something. And I remember shooting seven under around the old lock hill. And then I was like, I can actually play here. So yeah, sort of from there, it just started getting a lot more competitive and holding myself to a little bit higher standards.
00:06:23
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it was a long process, me maturing, because I had a few instances over the years.
Growing Up on the Course: Maturing as a Golfer
00:06:32
Speaker
Yeah. Well, what was a young, you know, Tyler would like on the golf course? Was it, you know?
00:06:36
Speaker
snapping clubs, blow-ups, F-bombs or was it just keeping it yourself or all of the above? All of the above, all of the above. I think all the boys I was in the academy with a few years ago, you can ask any of them about what their first thoughts on Tyler Wood was and that would probably not be too positive. I used to play in bandana
00:07:00
Speaker
I'd have a Yui Boom playing in my bag while I was playing competitive rounds and stuff. I can imagine I'd be a nightmare to play with. If I'd played with myself now, I'd be like, this guy's a twat. So when did you start thinking that you needed to rein that sort of behaviour in? Well, once I started playing proper rep golf, first time I played for Waikato and stuff,
00:07:27
Speaker
Um, yeah, I was like, yeah, I mean, there's people that do it their own way, but yeah, at a point, there becomes a certain point where you can't be doing shit like that anymore. I guess. Well, you're probably copping a spray for that. If you roll up to a, and to provincial event with a, with a Huey Boone blasting Jay Sean or something. Yeah. I used to just, I used to come up with, I don't know how I came up with it. I don't think I was all there to be honest, but, um,
00:07:56
Speaker
I remember I nearly got through a hole into provincial, so I think that's like seven matches and I played the same golf ball for the whole week. I just thought that would be a good stat to have if I could get through an entire into provincial with the same ball. And I think I got like five and a half rounds out of it, but yeah. Probably wasn't doing what it was asking you after, you know, 72 holes, was it? No. It would have been chewed up. Yeah, it was chewed up and then it went over the fence. So that was heartbreaking times for me.
00:08:25
Speaker
Look, I'll circle back to Nahidapuri. It's obviously a great country golf course. I've played a lot of golf there myself. But you know, what lessons did you learn growing up playing there? Yeah, well, like my first coach, I think, like the way I was brought up playing golf, I think, plays a lot of testament to how I play now. Like my first coach was actually a long drive coach.
00:08:51
Speaker
When I was that age, I had my finger dipped in a whole lot of sports, so I wasn't lacking in sports talent,
Early Coaching and Skill Development
00:08:59
Speaker
I guess you would say, but I had clubs that were way too long, way too heavy, so my coach would always give me that, and then that built up strength in areas where I could hit the ball a bit further, and then gradually as I got older, the club started getting shorter and a little bit lighter, and then that attributes to my club head speed now.
00:09:19
Speaker
I mean, growing up that way as well, you don't hit too many fairways when you're trying to hit every drive at 120%. So I would like to almost say that I'm a master from getting out of the shit now because I've spent most of my life in the shit. Yeah, because a lot of guys, you know, before we recorded this podcast, I'd sent a few messages around and asked a few guys from around the Waikato region about you. And it's pretty much the first thing is one of the
00:09:46
Speaker
best ball strikers I've seen just hits it such a long way. And you've kind of had that tag the whole way growing up, haven't you? Yeah, I guess I kind of have.
00:10:00
Speaker
Yeah, I guess that kind of just circles back to what I was brought up playing. I mean, I just used to, I mean, I used to hit the ball a long way when I was 16, but I just had no idea which part of the country it was going to end up in really. So yeah, I kind of like just eventually weaned it in from there. But yeah, I mean, I always kind of say that I don't
00:10:22
Speaker
work as hard as I would like, but I think I actually do quite a bit of work on that area and probably didn't pay enough attention to the putting in the short game stuff when I was younger, which I wish I did. But yeah, the majority of my time was ball striking and smoking balls down the range and just hitting the massage as you could. When did you start to realise that you're probably going to have to start raining that
00:10:46
Speaker
well, honing your craft a bit and catalyzing on your second shots a little bit more rather than, you know, like you said, just hitting driver down there, find it and get it as close as you can from where it ends up. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's sort of one of those things you just got to learn on the job a little bit. Like I can remember like playing my first child's tour stuff. And I think my first event on the child's tour was at Muriwai and, um,
00:11:14
Speaker
like played pretty well, whatnot. I think I scraped through the cut on the number and my first one and then, but like there's a couple of tee shots out there that I was just like sweaty palms over sort of thing. But, and then like you kinda, even now I go out to mural and those same tee shots. I'm like, this actually isn't that tight. So yeah, it's just over time you kind of learn, I guess. I mean, put yourself in those positions and enough and then yeah, you'll kind of figure it out. And you grew up playing, you know, a lot of golf with,
00:11:43
Speaker
one of our great mutual friends, Bodhi Hodges, and look like, you know, just as well as I do, how hard that man is to get a hold of, working on the yachts, and I tried to ask him a little bit about you, and look, as you'd know, I got crickets, but
00:12:01
Speaker
What are your memories from growing up playing with him? Because you guys were kind of like the dynamic duo of the Nahana Puri Golf Club. I know when he rolls out there, he's a bit of a celebrity, so I hate to know what you're like. It'd be like Tiger turning up to Stanford. I think, yeah, well, Bodhi's probably a celebrity because he did his yardie on the ninth green. That's brilliant.
00:12:27
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, me and Bodhi grew up, that was, well, we lived in the same street growing up. So we played a lot of our sort of younger years together. And yeah, Bodhi was actually a better player than me right up until, I don't even know, probably year 11. Like he was in that first team at Boys High and I couldn't get a sniff into it. And yeah, he's on the boats now, obviously, so he doesn't touch his clubs too often. But yeah, he was better than me for a long time, that's for sure.
00:12:56
Speaker
It must be something about growing up at Nahid Opori. It's just not being able to keep your driver on the golf course. Yeah. Because he's carried that with him until now, really. It probably didn't help as well because we both just tried to have it as hard as we could. And then it was just pretty much a big dick swinging comp whenever one of us without driving the others. And like you've obviously, like you said, he's one of your great mates and you've maintained a good relationship and, and he's spent quite a bit of time on your, on your bag. What, how is that?
00:13:24
Speaker
friendship built into being a decent working relationship on the golf course, if it is. Yeah, well I mean he is, he's someone that I really do enjoy having on the bag because I mean we've just known each other for so long and I think
00:13:40
Speaker
the way he was brought up as well with a sporting family like his sister's obviously an Olympic cyclist and his dad was a very high level rugby player so like it's quite good having him on the bag because he knows quite a bit about the mentality that's required for sport and what
00:13:56
Speaker
you need to succeed. So I do find him quite a lot sort of bringing me back into line whenever he is on the bag. And it's good because I am partial to a bit of a blow up when things aren't going my way. So he is good for that. I mean, I don't know how much golf in terms of strategic play, I'd probably listen to him because I think I've seen him ever pull less than driver off a par 4T. So yeah, he is a good man to have on the bag.
00:14:23
Speaker
I don't think I've ever seen him have a bad putting day, so I'm sure you have. I've seen his downpours of putting. I remember when he had two putters in the bag, he had a spalding and a massive tailor-made spider, so I don't know if I can relate too much to that. Yeah, well, I think it's just relative to my putting. I think I've seen him use every grip under the sun as well, claw, reverse claw, cat-candid, normal, everything.
00:14:51
Speaker
Look, Mike, talk to me about Junior Golf growing up playing for Waikato. How did that kind of shape you into being a really good amateur and then making your way into the play for pay ranks?
Handling Pressure: From Junior Golf to Q-School
00:15:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:06
Speaker
I think I kind of came up in that era where we had sort of, as I was in the junior interprovincial team, we had a couple of really good guys in the senior team, like the likes of sort of your Sam Vincent, Luke Toomey, Denzel Aramare, Nick Coxon, all those kind of guys. So it was a hard sort of task to get into that senior team. So it was kind of good to have those goals to work towards. But I mean, a lot of those guys were sort of playing for New Zealand at the time, so it was kind of hard to get a
00:15:34
Speaker
like a tip pass them but yeah I mean I think a lot of it was we just had a good group around the Waikato of guys our similar age like the likes of Jack Trowell I was always sort of chasing him trying to beat him and he always used to just beat me so it was it was good like from a competitive standpoint we just had such a big pool of guys. And then you make the step up and into the New Zealand Academy was that
00:16:00
Speaker
Kind of a bit of a wake-up call for a guy that's playing, as you said, in Nike Roshis and just blasting beats on his way around. Yeah, that was definitely an eye-opener. I kind of had a feeling that I was getting close to it. I had a couple of good results. I remember one year I was sort of coming down the stretch at Muriwai and I
00:16:23
Speaker
was in contention and I just didn't think that I would be and I got to within like five holes of the finish and I was sort of one back and I was like oh okay I'm actually yeah close to winning this thing and I'd pretty much won nothing beforehand so I did end up crumbling but um yeah after that I got got the call up and then I was like oh I think yeah I'll see if I'm sort of good enough and I can just remember going to play my first sort of
00:16:51
Speaker
international game under the academy in Melbourne at Victoria Golf Club. I think Sahith Thigala ended up winning that event, but I just remember I just felt so out of my element. I just had a couple of bunker shots where I was like, you can't stop this, but I know I can now.
00:17:10
Speaker
Yeah, it was just a big step out of New Zealand, like just seeing those different courses and yeah, everything like that. The Melbourne Sandbout is a thing to behold and it's very tough over there. So that was sort of the first step out, but yeah. And you briefly talk about you coming down a stretch and you crumbled in that event, but how do you, what's different with dealing with that as an amateur and now, not that you've had many of the moments where you've crumbled as a pro, but like,
00:17:39
Speaker
How do you think you're going to deal with those? And what do you do to get out of that when you tee it up next? I mean, yeah, at the end of the day, it's all learning. So you can't just sit there and go, oh, I crumbled and all this kind of thing and just think negatively. You've got to try and take some positives out and almost recognize what went wrong, where you can work on those kind of things.
00:18:07
Speaker
Yeah, that was my first time in that kind of position. I didn't even think that I'd be anywhere near there that week, and then I was, and I was loving it. It's one of those things dealing with pressure down the stretch. It's hard, especially your first time.
00:18:25
Speaker
I mean, pressure is never going to go away. It's just more so learning to deal with it and sort of almost walking towards it as opposed to hiding away from it. Like you have to sort of almost embrace it and enjoy it. And it's the only way you can sort of get through. So it's great, great insight. And before we move on to, you know, really digging into the start of a pro career. Yeah. Your last few kind of big amateur events for Waikato. How, how does it compare, you know, playing
00:18:55
Speaker
men's golf for your province compared to playing age group golf? Yeah, I mean, it is a big step up because obviously the players are better and all that. But yeah, like the inter-provincial week, the men's one, even since I've turned pro, I miss it so much. Like even just the one gone, I was like, it's one of the best weeks of the year because it's a team sport and you don't really play.
00:19:21
Speaker
many team events in golf. Well, I actually managed to get ahold of an unnamed teammate who, who had this to say about you as a teammate. Tyler was as good a teammate as you can get, as you can ask for, hilariously funny and always keeps the vibes up. And to be honest, I've never seen a more naturally talented ball striker ever.
00:19:50
Speaker
So that's come out. So you're obviously a guy that a lot of blokes want to play with. Why do you think that is? I don't know. I mean, obviously, whoever said that is delusional. No, I'm joking. I don't know. I mean, I always.
00:20:09
Speaker
I mean for the most part I enjoy playing with anyone so I mean I guess that's a good start to it. Like I actually really enjoy since I've turned pro like the pro-am stuff because it's a little bit more social and you meet new people and whatnot all walks of life and all that but yeah I don't know I just I have always enjoyed team stuff so I mean I grew up playing team sports so yeah.
00:20:32
Speaker
He also tipped me off on a story that I needed to ask about. In 2021, there were inter-provincial finals on Crake Day, and a Waikato flag may have been used as a cape for someone wearing not many clothes. Do you want to elaborate on the story? Yeah, that was the legend of Captain Crake Day. Yeah, that was down in Ashburton. That got pretty out of hand, I think.
00:21:01
Speaker
Cause we, uh, yeah, as most people would know, crate day starts at midday and I think we had just lost in the semi-final of the inter-provincial and we finished at 11 30 and I remember pulling out my phone and I was like, Oh, we still got time for crate days. I went straight to the liquor store and bought a crate. And yeah, I mean, I guess that's just sort of some of the antics that have been getting away from recently. Yeah. Oh yeah.
00:21:29
Speaker
It happened. It happened. I was there. I was the antagonist of that story. Hitting the pro ranks, you know, you came through the PGA tour of Australasia Q School. How intimidating is going to a Q School to get your card? It's so cutthroat, isn't it? Yeah, that Q School, I mean, that was my first one because I turned pro at New Zealand Open and I think Q School was a month and a half after.
00:21:55
Speaker
But, yeah, Q-School is a whole different game in itself because, I mean, like, yeah, essentially you're playing for playing for your job, really. Like, if you don't play well, you'd essentially lose your job. So, yeah, I mean, coming down that stretch at Q-School, I'd put myself in a reasonable position. Like, I was kind of comfortably inside the cut line to get my card.
00:22:22
Speaker
And I can remember on the, I think it was the 15th, par 5, I went for it in 2 and I lasered one all over the flag and I said be good and then this thing is just plugged into the face of the bunker below the flag and it was so dead that I had to putt it out backwards and try and get up and down and then
00:22:38
Speaker
didn't get up and down made bogey after thinking I was cruising and then it was just pretty much panic at the disco from there and just trying to get home like I hold a good putt on 16 and then yeah I hold a I hold a five-footer on 18 to get my card so that was yeah probably one of the most nerve-wracking putts of my life but
00:23:00
Speaker
I managed to squeeze it in the side door and get a card for the year so yeah. So did you know where you sat on Aiden Green so you knew that part had to go on? I didn't look at the scores like you can look at the live updates on the app but I
00:23:16
Speaker
sort of was, it was one of my goals that week was just to play as well as I could and if it was good enough then I would get a card and if it wasn't good enough then it was back to the drawing board but I had a pretty strong feeling that that putt was to get my card and it ended up being that way so I was trying to yeah it was a hands were shaky coming up the last that's for sure but yeah.
00:23:40
Speaker
I was happy to make that part. And yeah, fuck like that. You don't actually like, not that I know, but you can't feel pressure like it until you're actually doing it. It's just so hard to replicate that in any sort of training or round, isn't it?
00:24:00
Speaker
Yeah I mean you have to sort of do as best as you can in training but I mean it is at the end of the day there is no sort of you can't recreate that kind of pressure so
00:24:11
Speaker
But I mean, yeah, you got to again, try and take positives out of every situation. So like I obviously played well enough to deserve a card and sort of got to try and carry that mentality through the season. Like I obviously earned my way to be here. So, but yeah, I mean, it is so hard to replicate in training. Um, just even still trying to find out figure out ways to put pressure on yourself in training is it's a tough thing to do, but yeah, you got to try and do it, I guess.
00:24:36
Speaker
Have you had any tips on maybe how to do that from some of the guys that have been around the traps a little bit? Not so much from other players, but I've had some good ideas from sports psychologists that I've worked with, David Galbraith. He put across some really good points and stuff.
00:25:00
Speaker
I have done it a few times. He's got me to do a thing where you go in for training and you start at like eight in the morning and you've just got to putt all day pretty much until like two o'clock and then at two o'clock you hit one eight footer and that eight footer if you miss you've got to come back the next day and do it all again.
00:25:22
Speaker
And if you make it, then you don't have to do it the next day, but it's just, yeah, sort of stuff like that. I mean, it can be grueling, like, but yeah, I mean, I guess you got to do it. So yeah, it's just sort of ideas that he's thrown around and it's been really good. So, I mean, just always trying to figure out new ways, put yourself on under pressure and training.
00:25:40
Speaker
How many times have you had to come back the next day? Yeah, I've had a couple of times where it's been like sort of three days and you're just like going home like just hands on the steering wheel just going fuck this. You talked about you turned pro at the New Zealand Open. We're obviously heading into the New Zealand Open next week. But what was that first tee shot like as a pro? Were there some jitters because it was
00:26:07
Speaker
I understand it was your first at New Zealand Open as a player, wasn't it? Yeah. Yeah, that was my first one as a player. I think I've caddied in it four times. I've been on a couple of really good bags in the years going by. But yeah, that was my first one as a pro.
00:26:25
Speaker
didn't really hit me until I did all the warm-up and I was completely fine and I was like yeah whatever it's just another round of golf and then standing on that first tee and they call your name and then I was just like oh shit okay here we go but yeah I mean managed to hit a good drive down the first and I played pretty solid from memory apart from maybe a couple of shots here and there at the wrong time but yeah I mean it was a
00:26:51
Speaker
It was a cool spot to turn pro as well, especially I turned pro on my 23rd birthday, so that was also pretty cool.
Insights from Caddying for Michael Campbell
00:26:59
Speaker
You know, you've really wet behind the ears when you come out at 23 and you said before that you look for some big bags. I understand you are on the bag for Michael Campbell at one of those New Zealand Opens.
00:27:12
Speaker
Yeah, that was, I think, two years prior, so that might have been 2021. I cared for Campbell. And that was, yeah, that was a really good experience. I mean, just seeing everything from, I guess, the, the pinnacle of the sport, really. Cause I mean, he was top of the, top of the food chain, really. I mean, obviously everyone remembers him winning it, um, winning at Pinehurst. So yeah. Um,
00:27:38
Speaker
Yeah that was really cool being on his bag and yeah I learnt some really cool stuff that week even just he was really helpful even to me and yeah just I could still quiz him around the course and yeah learnt some really cool stuff from him so yeah that was a really cool week. Off the top of the head what sort of things was he kind of talking about when he was kind of giving you some advice?
00:28:00
Speaker
Well, I mean, I had kettied for him for like a week and a half prior at Tariti and like he was just sort of quizzing me about my game. And obviously it was cool because he had his coach there as well. And he was like, he was sort of top 50, top 100 coach in the world at the time, Jonathan Yarwood. So I was sort of just bouncing a few ideas off them at the time.
00:28:22
Speaker
Yeah, I mean just watching the way that he sort of maneuvered his way around the course because he doesn't hit it as far as he used to now, but I mean like he could still 100% compete and he was like without a doubt probably the best iron player I've ever seen. It was unbelievable. I just can remember getting for him and it got real windy and it just looked like his ball flight just was not moving in the wind at all.
00:28:47
Speaker
Yeah, it was sort of a bit of an eye-opener. And then, yeah, just from there, I was almost just trying to figure out how to do that. And I mean, still trying to get a grasp on it, but. Camo was an impressive player. It goes without saying, and that doesn't surprise me in the slightest. He's an absolute champion and, you know, hopefully we can get him on and do one of these because I think he'd be an outstanding guest. Yeah, he would be.
00:29:16
Speaker
You played a big chunk of your, the start of your professional career on the clutch pro tour over in Europe.
Experiences on the Clutch Pro Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia
00:29:23
Speaker
Talk me through that experience because I imagine there could be some, some pretty, pretty low lows playing over on that. Yeah. Yeah. That's for sure. I mean, being 24 hours worth of flying away from home and playing essentially the mini tour, um,
00:29:42
Speaker
Yeah, it was good. I mean, I kind of signed up for that before I went to Australasian Talk U School just to sort of guarantee playing some stuff during the year. But yeah, that is sort of like the almost living out of a car sort of stuff, the side of professional golf that a lot of people don't see.
00:30:02
Speaker
I was driving around a piece of shit, Honda Jazz throughout the UK, and I think every time I was driving about 5Ks an hour, one of the suspension springs was unloading into the outside of the car, so I was getting all these mugs, and I was like, yeah, nah, nah, that's what happens. But yeah, it was definitely an eye-opener, that's for sure. And playing overseas is always going to be a good experience, playing different grasses every week.
00:30:29
Speaker
Yeah, it's still some of the hardest courses that I've played to date over there. I understand there's a lot of decent players that come back and play that maybe don't get into the Challenge Tour field. And how did you enjoy matching yourself up against those guys? Yeah, I mean, there was quite a few weeks there was Challenge Tour guys that had sort of not got start, so they'd come back and play on that tour. But yeah, I mean, again,
00:30:58
Speaker
sort of you play with guys and you're like I can do sort of that so what what sort of the what piece of the puzzle is missing really and you're just I mean I guess you're just always learning like everyone plays golf differently like you I've played with guys with funky swings I've played with guys with perfect swings and whatnot and everyone does it differently I guess but everyone has their own strengths and you just got to try and figure out what needs to be worked on in your game I guess and try and get it trying to get to that level but
00:31:26
Speaker
Yeah, I did really enjoy my time in the UK. I mean, yeah, as I said, some of the hardest courses I've played and you really sort of just get this shit beaten out of you and then try and work on your game from there. And yeah, it's just a bit of an eye opener and gives you more stuff to work on. So yeah, I did really enjoy it. You briefly spoke about the travel. How grueling was it and like, what was the kind of lowest point on that clutch pro tour do you think?
00:31:57
Speaker
lowest point there was there was a couple of big long drives in that piece of shit that I was driving like I can remember
00:32:07
Speaker
Me and Jake mean-horsed, we had to drive. We had played, or I think I had missed the cut or something, so I had, like, we checked out of our motel sort of thing, and then I had spent all day at the course just doing nothing while he played, and then we had to drive from Newcastle to London and, like, getting back into London at, like, five o'clock on a Friday. You'd think Auckland traffic's bad, but fuck, the M25 in London is just something else. And, like, it took us, like, after playing
00:32:36
Speaker
Well I sat around doing nothing, sat in the car and then he's played 18 holes and then we're driving seven hours back to London. Just sort of stuff like that. We had another good one actually, me and Jimmy Hyde's traveling to Northern Ireland to play an event. And we had a one hour flight and I think we spent, might have been 14 hours at the airport or something. We had to sleep overnight in the airport for a one hour flight.
00:33:04
Speaker
And it was, yeah, it was just- Just cause you had no accommodation. No, we had accommodation, but our flight had been canceled. So, and there was no more flights cause we were on the last flight out. And then they were like, oh yeah, your new flights now at seven in the morning or something. And then they were like, oh, we can get you a hotel, but it's an hour and a half away. And then we were like, by the time we get there, we're going to like sleep for three hours and then have to get back on the train and get back here and then get on the plane. So he ended up just sleeping in the terminal.
00:33:32
Speaker
the two of us and we were trying to make bids out of our clothes and all that. It was not pretty, but I mean, yeah, that is many tall golf wheels. That's pretty character building. And as you progress in your pro career, do you think you will look back on these moments and
00:33:50
Speaker
think that that's helped shape you into the goal for you inevitably become? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, sort of, I guess you can, the takeaway from those kind of things is like, I think me and Jimmy still had a half decent week that week. So you kind of just take things away, like if I can spend the overnight on the floor of an airport and then get there, play a tournament and sort of come top 25, then I can, I can do it with a
00:34:16
Speaker
can do even better with a good night's sleep. But I mean, yeah, I mean, it's, it is stuff that you will look back on and it's good memories. But at the time it was shit. Real shit. But it's only short term. So, you know, it's great that you can, you know, you can look back
00:34:37
Speaker
Now it's only like a few months ago and you're laughing about it and you've come out the other side and you're in your maiden season in Australia, which is obviously the PGA tour of Australasia. And how have you enjoyed that and how have you managed the travel? Because it is quite, it's quite a condensed schedule. So it's like almost play every week sort of territories, isn't it? Yeah. I mean.
00:35:02
Speaker
Yeah, that's definitely a little bit different to what I was doing in the UK like but it's it seems a lot more organized So you almost just set aside your Mondays as travel days and then it's just work from there. So But yeah, like there has been some pretty grueling travel days like when we played the WA
00:35:21
Speaker
Yeah, that was the second one. WAPGA, I didn't even realise I should have booked a flight and we ended up driving, but I didn't realise that that drive is eight hours through the desert and six and a half of it is no reception, so...
00:35:37
Speaker
So yeah, it's just stuff like that. But yeah, it's all learning as you go, I guess. And if I do play that event next year, I will be booking a flight in advance, that's for sure. What sort of things did you see through the desert there? There's nothing. It is just dead straight road for as long as you can see. And the road trains, like the 50 metre long road trains, you're trying to overtake them.
00:36:02
Speaker
Oh, that's bleak. Yeah, it is. Yeah. Well, Calgolia south of golf course is pretty much just like a pristine track just dumped in the middle of a desert. Like you miss the fairway and it's like you had an eight iron look down at it and your club's fucked. On that red sand. Yeah. I can imagine your shoes would have been in porn like after that.
00:36:24
Speaker
Yeah, I was lucky that one of the boys told me not to take new shoes that week. So I took an old pair and just leaving after the tournament, just threw them straight in the bin because they were prepared white at the start of the week and red at the end. Yeah, there in a bin somewhere in Kalgoorlie. There's a great collection of Kiwis, you know, up and coming golfers on the
00:36:47
Speaker
on the tour over here in Australia. Do you guys kind of find yourself congregating together a lot and practice around staying, et cetera? Yeah, pretty well. I mean, I've done, yeah, most of this, or the second half of the season I've spent with Kazooma, but yeah, a couple of weeks in the first half I spent with Reese and Kerry.
00:37:09
Speaker
But yeah, like pretty much always the Kiwis sort of do sort of stay together just because we've known each other for so long. And it's such a small pool over here that we all know each other anyway. So, but, um, yeah, I've met a lot of, a lot of the Aussie guys and they're all real good dudes. So, I mean, I'm happy to play with anyone, but yeah, I mean, the Kiwis normally do tend to stick together. And cause I know when I saw you out at castle, who you were, you and Kazuma were belleting and you ended up, you were first ultimate and you ended up on his bag and he ended up winning.
00:37:40
Speaker
Um, you've spent, obviously maybe, maybe just a career in a cell. Um, he's obviously such hot property at the moment is what one three times in the last kind of six weeks over here. What makes him so impressive as a player?
00:38:00
Speaker
Ah, he is pretty much the complete package now. I mean, for a long time, he was sort of going, ah, he's sort of just a good putter, but now he literally is sort of top of the food chain in nearly every department. So he's definitely going to be a tough one to catch in the future. But I mean, again, it's just like staying with him as well. It's been really good. I've really enjoyed it because
00:38:25
Speaker
sort of just seeing the way that he prepares for tournaments and even even though he's younger than me I still pick his brain about certain things here and there and he always has good sort of gold to to share with me so and he's more than happy to help he's he's a legend of Ado but
00:38:41
Speaker
Yeah, as well, chatting for him, watching him down the stretch, how sort of laser focused he is, front row and everything. Like just, it almost looks like pressure doesn't get to him, but I mean, talking to him, you know, it does, but he just, he deals with it so well. Um, and exactly why he's won three times, I guess. Well, yeah, cause obviously a really fast learner because I actually, I interviewed him a few weeks ago and you know, he,
00:39:08
Speaker
He had not long had that melt at the VIC PGA where he gave up the six-shot deficit and then just went and won the next week. And he said he definitely still feels the pressure. And I think the direct quote was something my thoughts would not be that of what a sports psychologist would tell you to think when I was coming down the stretch. So it's interesting to hear that even a guy that's right at the top of the food chain still feels that unbelievable amount of pressure, I suppose.
00:39:38
Speaker
how you deal with that, that I know sets people apart, isn't it? Yeah. I mean, again, pressure is one of those things that you're never going to be able to sort of shy away from. Like you, that's always going to be there. And regardless, like even amateur golfers, like, yeah, you've got the pressure of getting reamed out by your mates for missing a three footer or something like that. And then it's the exact same for us, I guess. But yeah.
00:40:04
Speaker
I did hear a story from someone, I can't, don't quote me on who it was, but they directly know, I think it's Sam Pinfold, Cam Smith's caddy, and they were talking about him down the stretch at the open and everyone was like, oh, he was so clutch, he was so clutch. And yeah, someone had a story about Cam couldn't even down water, like he couldn't actually swallow water because he was that nervous coming down 18 and he still managed to make birdies and win the open.
00:40:29
Speaker
I think one of the things I've learned from being in the academy was that there's a difference between confidence and competence. Confidence is good when it's there, but competency to perform under pressure is a whole different thing.
00:40:49
Speaker
Yeah, mate. Pressure, mate. Some eat it, some get eaten by it. Yeah, exactly. Maybe get that stamped on the back of a wedge. Yeah. One of your better performances of the year was at the Vic Open, T23. It was a great week at a couple of tricky venues. Was this the week where you kind of were like, man, I belong out here and I can compete with these guys. I'm just as good as them.
00:41:17
Speaker
Yeah, it sort of was. I mean, I guess the first half of the season, so many missed cuts and it can take you to a pretty dark place.
Mental Preparation and Future Goals
00:41:27
Speaker
But yeah, I stayed that week by myself.
00:41:32
Speaker
and I was actually just doing a lot of work at home sort of on trying to psych myself up a little bit more because I'd gone home the week previous because I had missed two cuts on the number and I was just not in a good headspace so I came home for a week and worked my arse off and then came back and my game felt like it was in a good spot and I was leading at one point in the third round and then hit an errant tee shot and managed to sort of salvage the round a little bit
00:42:01
Speaker
Yeah, I was sort of I went to bed on that Saturday night sort of not Not like scared that I was in contention. I was a little bit more excited. I was like, yeah This is sort of my chance I guess But yeah and end of the day Sunday wasn't to be and I had a couple of things not go my way But I mean that's always gonna happen. So yeah, it is what it is. And but yeah, it's sort of it definitely has
00:42:25
Speaker
like sort of open my eyes that I can compete with these guys. So yeah, I mean, I am looking forward to the sort of next few weeks as well. And you say you're looking forward to the next few weeks, but there's only a couple of events left. What does, you know, after that look like for you?
00:42:48
Speaker
Yeah, well, I mean, it obviously depends on how the season finishes and where I finish and the order of merit, whether I have to go back to Q-School or not. I could well end up going back to Q-School, but I mean, I got through Q-School last year with the borderline chipping up, so I mean, I'm not too scared about going back, so yeah, I mean, I know, and I like that course that it's at, so I'm not really sort of going to take it majorly to heart if I do have to go back to Q-School, because it's definitely on the cards. I mean, ideally don't want to, but
00:43:19
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, yeah, after that there's not too much happening. I'm sort of looking forward to almost a little bit of an off season because obviously last winter I did the UK and the winter before that I did the US. So it's been pretty flat out for the last two years really. So I'm looking forward to like a bit of a sit down period where I can go through my stats, sit down with my coach and go, all right, what needs work done? I've got like a three month window to
00:43:46
Speaker
just sort of rectify some stuff that hasn't that has been consistently not great over the last two years. And yeah, I mean, hopefully after that, it'll come out the other side a lot better player and yeah. And you're obviously going to have a bit, as you said, have a bit of a break. What do you what does away from the course look like for you? What do you like getting out and doing? Because, you know, from the people that I've talked to, it's pretty evident that you're far more than than just
00:44:15
Speaker
The golfer. Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, people always ask me this and it's tough. I mean, I do. I enjoy surfing quite a bit, but I haven't done too much of that recently. And I do love a good night out here and there, but those are becoming more far in between at the moment because I've just been so sort of laser focused on getting my game in shape.
00:44:39
Speaker
I'd sat down with my coach after coming back from those two miscuts and just went, I remember just saying to him, I was like, I'm sick of being shit. Like just what have I got to do to be good? So I mean, that, that off period isn't really going to be an off period. I don't think it's going to be a lot of sort of head down hard work. So yeah, I am, I'm looking forward to it though. Well, you're in the right place to do it. I understand you, you're based up near Mungify now, um, with some of the best facilities going around. So you,
00:45:11
Speaker
there's one place you want to be locked in and you know getting your gaming check it's probably up there so we're we're about to you doing your training and stuff up there. Yeah I'm lucky enough that I'm in a position of
00:45:24
Speaker
I know a few people that, yeah, I do all of my training out at Taredi, so it's nice. I've got my own sanctum, really. I've got a range for myself. It's good because you don't have the distractions of everything else and whatnot. I do have the most unreal facility at the moment where I can work.
00:45:46
Speaker
work on my craft. So yeah, I mean that three months off is going to be a lot of time spent there and by myself and could drive myself insane or I could find out I guess. Yeah. Do you enjoy that process of, you know, just all out grind and getting better because you hear about a lot of guys that are like fucking sick for it. And then you hear a lot of guys that, you know, would just rather get out and
00:46:14
Speaker
work on their craft on the course. Do you love the grind or are you in the other way? It depends on how my game is. If I'm in a position where I feel like I'm hitting it really well, I'll just play 18 holes every day and then just do some touch-up stuff on what didn't go too well that day, I guess. But if I'm battling, then it is just digging it out of the dirt and trying to rectify some stuff.
00:46:42
Speaker
Yeah, I'm more than happy to spend six hours at the range putting, chipping, doing everything in a session. So yeah, I mean, just at the end of the day, whatever gets you back into a place where you can play some good golf because I mean, no one likes playing shit.
00:46:59
Speaker
And the only way to fix that is by hard work, I guess, so yeah. Mate, awesome stuff. And look, I've kept you for pretty much 50 minutes of your time. You've been at the golf course most of the day, I'm sure. You're fucking sick of speaking about it, but I won't keep you for much longer. But moving forward, what are your plans? So maybe if we chuck Tyler Wharton in a time machine in three years, what is an ideal situation for you to be in?
00:47:29
Speaker
Um, yeah, I mean, ideal situation for me is, uh, I'm going to, I'm going to be going to a few Q schools over the next few years. And I mean, even the likes of my mate, Sam Jones has paved a pretty good path for the guys my age. And like he sort of proved to us like that he went to Q school and.
00:47:47
Speaker
absolutely killed it and now he's playing full time on the DP so I'd love to be up there playing with him and I imagine Kazuma will be there next year after the season he's had so I mean in an ideal world yeah on the DP but I'm probably gonna go maybe Asian tour and DP Q school this year so I mean it may not happen first time and it's okay and like as long as you can take some learnings away but yeah hopefully get through a Q school at some stage or even play my way on through the Australasian tour would be nice
00:48:16
Speaker
But yeah, my options are open to wherever the game takes me, and I love traveling at the same time. So yeah, wherever it takes me, I'll be there playing. Did you consider going to maybe an Asian tourist queue school when it had just been? It was about January, I believe it was. Did that cross your mind, or was your focus kind of to get through this season on the Aussie tour? It was definitely on my mind, but at the same time,
00:48:44
Speaker
Like I'm still first year pro and sat down with my coach and we kind of spoke about it. We were like, if you're, realistically, like it's pretty brutal, but it is true. Like if you're not keeping your card on that Australasian tour, then you're probably not going to keep your card on an Asian tour. So we kind of said, yeah, we'll use this year as like a learning curve and sort of just get used to the tour life a little bit. And then from there we can sort of take a little bit bigger steps and
00:49:10
Speaker
Yeah. So I did, I did consider it, but yeah, I'm just sort of focused on Aussie season at the moment and see if I can retain that card and then, yeah, at least get some guaranteed starts for next year. And then I can sort of open a few more doors and hopefully get some status elsewhere. But yeah, for now, it's just Aussie tour, I guess. Well, mate, it's a, it's a great story. And you know, we, we've come from, you know, 54 through three holes to be, you know, contending on, on a pretty,
00:49:40
Speaker
competitive tour and the Aussie tour and all the best with the grind to keep your card and this week at the New Zealand Open, all the best there and hopefully it's been a while since the New Zealanders got their job done and you've shown that you're definitely good enough to compete at that level and hopefully you're in contention come Sunday because I'll certainly be tuning in. So thanks for coming on the podcast, mate. No dramas. Thank you for having me.